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Saturday, 2 April 2011

Tutorial...of a sort.

When I first started making polymer clay buttons, I used to diligently measure the diameter of each button size, divide it into four, and then pierce the button holes at the two middle points. It wasn't always perfect though, because my buttons sizes aren't easily divisible by four, so I wanted to come up with a different way.

Ta-da! This is what I did:


I'm sure you're all aghast with amazement (that look on your faces *is* amazement at my genius, right? I always get 'amazement' and 'pity' confused.)

Basically, I bend quite heavy duty wire around the test buttons so it spans the diameter:


Then I bend another piece of wire to the width I want the holes, using my flat-nose pliers.



I measure the first piece of wire, and wire-wrap the smaller piece onto the middle with thin (03.mm) wire.


Voila! Now you press it onto your uncured buttons and you get nice, evenly spaced holes.


If you're good with wire-wrapping (um, unlike me) you can repeat step one and bind that onto your button-hole maker at right angles to the first large bar so that it is genuinely evenly spaced in every direction. (see below)











I'm sure there are lots of easier, better, and less stupid-looking ways to do what I've done, but hey - can you photoshop googly eyes on those ways and make a cute spider? Can you?












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10 comments:

  1. Melobeau2 April 2011 at 20:02

    BRAVA, are you not clever! Necessity is the mother of invention. Must be that Vegan diet (which I share).

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  2. Patricia JL2 April 2011 at 21:12

    I love wire working and that is an ingenious idea... One I probably would have never thought of it I made buttons.

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  3. MoeArt2 April 2011 at 23:22

    That is TOOO cute! And so smart! Yay for vegans! Three cheers for you! (us) :D

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  4. Mellisa2 April 2011 at 23:29

    Great solution! I've just used two toothpicks and a twist-tie to keep the space in between and said the heck with precise centering! Your idea is much better :)

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  5. Unknown2 April 2011 at 23:52

    Show *that* to your stupid doctor the next time she asks if you're getting enough protein!

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  6. Hazel Ward3 April 2011 at 17:27

    Thank you all :D And yay to all the vegan polymer clayers here *G*

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  7. Louise9 April 2011 at 17:04

    That looks impressively technical, Hazel! (Just a lowly veggie here, but I still get the 'do you get enough iron?' comments, never mind the abuse from the militant meat-eaters!)

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  8. Hazel Ward11 April 2011 at 16:01

    Thanks - I think someone with your wirework skills could make it look a lot prettier though *G* Wire-wrapping is *really* not my forte!

    And argh, it's amazing how concerned even strangers suddenly are about your nutrition when they find out you're veggie/vegan isn't it? (Nothing lowly about veggies either!)

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  9. Louise11 April 2011 at 18:56

    Yep, and I get the whole 'if it was good enough for cavemen, it's good enough for us' argument. Because obviously I want to be whacked over the head and dragged back to a cave too...

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  10. Jolene23 April 2011 at 18:39

    Briliant that is Hazel ;D

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